European Tour

Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open 2018

July 12-15

Gullane Golf Club, East Lothian

$7,000,000

July 12-15

Gullane Golf Club, East Lothian

$7,000,000

Round 2

Rock stars on Gullane’s grand stage

Round 1

Round 3

Round 4

Round 1

Round 3

Round 4

July 13, 2018

Robert Rock made the most of the favourable conditions at Gullane Golf Course to take a two-shot lead into the weekend at the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open, after an impressive bogey-free round of 63.

- Getty Images

“ I've played well over the last few tournaments and posted some good scores in first rounds and then end up finishing 40 th, 50 th . Those expectations just disappear quickly when you do that. So, I try and just enjoy the tournament, see what I can make of it and I've made a good start. If I play another two good rounds, I shouldn't be too far away.”

On a low scoring day - which saw the course record broken twice - the Englishman got to 13 under par to stay ahead of compatriot Tyrrell Hatton, who also remained bogey-free with his round of 64.

"I'm very happy with that," said Hatton. "Not quite how I wanted to play, but overall, if I can play like that and score that well, then that's obviously really good. So, I'll take a bit of confidence from that and hopefully have a good weekend.

“We're all here every week trying to play our best and fortunately for me I've played well on links courses in the past, had good finishes in this tournament. So hopefully I'll continue that this weekend.”

Hatton was joined on 11 under par by Sweden's Jens Dantorp, who was on course to claim solo second place before dropping his only shot of the day on the last.

The 2015 Scottish Open champion Rickie Fowler continued his good form around the Gullane links, also dropping a single shot in his round of 66 to sit at ten under par alongside England's Eddie Pepperell, who got his round off to a flying start with two birdies and an eagle in his first four holes.

“Didn't get it close enough out of the gate and missed a couple of good looks," said Fowler. "Still managed to get it going, keep it moving the right direction. Only the one bogey on the same hole as yesterday. Hit a lot of good putts. Hit some good putts coming in. Missed a couple on 17 and 18 that I hit where I wanted to. That's all you can do out there. Hopefully that was just a sign of saving them for the weekend."

The 23-time European Tour winner Lee Westwood, China's Haotong Li, Swede Alexander Björk and Scott Fernandez of Spain are in a share of sixth place on nine under par, while a further five players sit one shot further back.

Scotland's Connor Syme kick-started his tournament with stunning round of 62 to set a new course record, which was then bettered by Hideto Tanihara's 61 later in the day. Both are amongst a group of 11 players on seven under par.